Hartlepool

OLD HARTLEPOOL -THE HEADLAND

Surrounded on three sides by the sea, the Magnesian Limestone
headland or peninsula called the Heugh at Hartlepool is more familiarly
known as Old Hartlepool. Hartlepool may not always readliy accept
association with Teesside, it has its own natural harbour to the north
of the river, but in recent centuries its industrial history has been
very closely tied up with the River Tees.

Above : Hartlepool town wall and St
Hilda's church photographed by David Simpson

In prehistoric times Hartlepool's headland is thought to have
been an isolated tidal island covered by thick forests. In the
nineteenth century during excavation of the adjacent marshy area called
the Slake, trunks of trees from the ancient forest were found embedded
in the clay along with antlers and the teeth from deer that seem to
have inhabited the area in large numbers many years ago.

Hartlepool forest is still recorded in existence in the
thirteenth century. In fact the ancient Anglo Saxon name for Hartlepool
was Heret eu meaning Stag Island which is a reference to either the
stag's head shape of the headland or perhaps an indication that the
area may have been well inhabited by forest deer.

Hereteu was later known as Hart or Hartness and was in fact
the name of a whole district which included the Heugh headland and the
villages of Hart and Billingham
to the west. At an early stage the coastal headland was distinguished
from Hart by the addition of the word `pool', a reference to the
sheltered coastal bay adjacent to the headland.

ST HILDA OF HARTLEPOOL

Hartlepool's headland is of course the site of the original
Hartlepool and was to form the natural harbour for the old fishing town
for many centuries. In earlier times this area had been the site of a
monastery associated with St Hilda. The Anglo-Saxon monastery at
Hartlepool was founded in 640 A.D by St Aidan for both men and women
and its first abbess was an Irish princess by the name of Hieu. Some
say that Hieu gave her name to Heugh,
the name of the headland. In 649 A.D Hieu was succeeded by St Hilda who
was here until 657 A.D when she founded the monastery at Whitby.

In its later days the monastery at Hartlepool seems to have
declined in importance until it was finally destroyed by the Danes in
the ninth century. Scandinavian invaders may have continued to be a
problem for Hartlepool in following centuries as there is a record of
an attack upon this place by Norwegian pirates under King Eystein in
1153 when ships and goods were carried off from the port.

The location of the old Anglo-Saxon monastery at Hartlepool is
marked by the beautiful church of St Hilda and in 1833 a cemetery
thought to be associated with the old monastery was discovered nearby.
The present church of St Hilda dates from the thirteenth century and
was built as a burial place for the Norman De Brus (Bruce) family who owned much
land hereabouts.

BRUCE'S PORT

In the thirteenth century the coastal port and fishing town of
Hartlepool became a fortified place with defensive walls constructed
around the Headland. The defences were instigated by Robert Bruce the
first, who was grandfather of the famous King of Scotland of that name.
The Bruces acquired
Hartlepool after the Norman Conquest although their period of ownership
was characterised by disputes with the Bishops of Durham
over who exactly owned the place. Some parts of Hartlepool's town wall
date from the 14th century including the historic Sandwell Gate which
can still be seen. Here the wall is eight feet three inches thick.
Hartlepool needed to be well defended as it was the chief sea port of
the powerful Prince Bishops of Durham and was a regular target for
Scottish and sea-borne attacks.

One notable Scottish raid on Hartlepool occured in 1315, the
year after King Edward I had been defeated by King Robert the Bruce
at
the Battle of Bannockburn. Robert the Bruce may have had a particular
grudge against Hartlepool as it was the place to which the English King
Edward had fled following the battle. Furthermore Robert the Bruce had
once been the owner of Hartlepool, but it was confiscated from him by
the English, when he was enthroned as King of the Scots.

MEDIEVAL PORT

Throughout the Middle Ages Hartlepool virtually monopolised
the shipping of the Durham Bishopric and was one of the busiest places
on the eastern coast. Such was its importance that it regularly
attracted pirates who hampered the trade of ports like Hartlepool and
Whitby. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Hartlepool was
recognised for its strategic importance during rebellions and in times
of religous conflict. In the conflicts of the sixteenth century for
example its significance was recognised by all sides as a potential
landing place for the enemy. At the Siege of Dunbar in 1650 it was said
that the French had come into the possession of a detailed map of
Hartlepool and hoped to set men ashore to fortify the place as a base
for seizing the whole of northern England.

In August 1561 Hartlepool was again asked to remain vigilant
when the activities of Mary Queen of Scots came under close scrutiny.
The Hartlepudlians were advised to keep a watch out for foreign ships
entering the town. Eight years later during the Rising of the North in
1569 the Spanish ambassador had instructed northern rebels to capture
Hartlepool in order that the Duke of Alva might land troops from the
Netherlands to lend their support.

In response to this plan the Earl of Sussex ordered that
Hartlepool be garrisoned by 200 men to prevent the landing. The order
was not obeyed and Lord Neville, leader of the northern rebels seized
the town instead.

The foreign support for the rebels at Hartlepool never
materialized and on the seventeenth of December 1569 a Royal ship
sailing from Scarborough to Tynemouth fired upon the rebels in the
town. The rebels returned fire but the ship managed to capture a
Hartlepool fishing coble with three poor half naked men on board.

In the following century Hartlepool was occupied by the Scots
during the Civil War. During the Dutch Wars (1644-67) a report and map
of the place was drawn up because vessels pursued by the Dutch
frequently took refuge here.

In the eighteenth century Hartlepool's importance as a port
had fallen into considerable decline and its harbour had fallen into
disrepair. As Hartlepool entered the nineteenth century it was
redundant as a port and was known primarily as a health resort and not
a very successful one at that. A final nail seemed to have been
hammered into the coffin of Hartlepool as a port when the natural
harbour was enclosed for agricultural purposes and corn was grown on
the slake. Fortunately in 1813 a petition was made that came out in
favour of the town. The enclosure was reversed and the harbour was
saved. If the enclosure had been given a few more years to take effect,
irreversible damage may have been done to the harbour.

The Hartlepool Monkey

The best known tradition and legend associated with the
fishermen of Hartlepool is the story of the hanging of the monkey.
Tradition attributes this legend to the Napoleonic wars at the
beginning of the nineteenth century. It was a December day and the
coast at Hartlepool was subject to a heavy battering of gales and snow,
through which a French vessel called the Chasse Maree could be vaguely
seen just off the Hartlepool headland.

The fisherfolk of Hartlepool fearing an invasion kept a close
watch on the French vessel as it struggled against the storm but when
the vessel was severely battered and sunk they turned their attention
to the wreckage washed ashore. Among the wreckage lay one wet and
sorrowful looking survivor, the ship's pet monkey dressed to amuse in a
military style uniform.

The fishermen apparently questioned the monkey and held a
beach-based trial. Unfamiliar with what a Frenchman looked like they
came to the conclusion that this monkey was a French spy and should be
sentenced to death. The unfortunate creature was to die by hanging,
with the mast of a fishing boat (a coble) providing a convenient
gallows.

In former times, when war and strife
The French invasion threaten'd life
An' all was armed to the knife
The Fisherman hung the monkey O !
The Fishermen with courage high,
Siezed on the monkey for a French spy;
"Hang him !" says one; "he's to die"
They did and they hung the monkey Oh!
They tried every means to make him speak
And tortured the monkey till loud he did speak;
Says yen "thats french" says another "its Greek"
For the fishermen had got druncky oh!

WEST HARTLEPOOL - JACKSON'S TOWN

At the beginning of the nineteenth century it was hard to
believe that Old Hartlepool, with its small population of only 993
consisting almost entirely of fishermen had been one of the busiest
ports on the eastern coast. It was realised that trade had to be
brought into the town in order to save it from oblivion and in 1823 it
was suggested that railways be built to connect with local collieries,
so that Hartlepool could be developed as a coal port. One of the main
parties involved in the development of railways and docks at Old
Hartlepool was Christopher Tennant of Yarm
who established the Hartlepool Dock and Railway Company. Mr Tennant had
opened the Clarence Railway at Billingham
in 1833 and gained permission for a new railway linking Hartlepool to
the Durham coalfield, but he died before completion of this new 'Stockton and Hartlepool Railway'
in 1839

Tennant's railway was taken over by a Stockton-on-Tees solicitor
called Ralph Ward Jackson, but Jackson was increasingly frustrated by
restrictions on business at Old Hartlepool's Victoria Dock and
established the West Hartlepool Dock Company to the south west of the
old town. This signified the birth of West Hartlepool, a town which
came to overshadow Old Hartlepool by its shear size. By 1881 Old
Hartlepool's population had grown from 993 to 12,361, but the newly
born West Hartlepool now had a population of 28,000. By 1900 the two
Hartlepools were one of the four busiest ports in the country and West
Hartlepool alone had a population of 63,000.

For many years West Hartlepool and Old Hartlepool were
separate towns but merged together as one town, under the Hartepool
Order of 1966. Today the modern town centre of Hartlepool is in the
former West Hartlepool where we find many interesting features
including the unusual Victorian church called Christchurch, now
occupied by an art gallery. The most significant developments at
Hartlepool of more recent times include the Hartlepool Marina and
Hartlepool Historic Quay where a complete eighteenth century seaport
has been created in part of a West Hartlepool dock. Nearby, the Museum
of Hartlepool has an interactive meuseum portraying Hartlepool's
historic past.

SEATON CAREW

Seaton Carew to the south of Hartlepool near the mouth of the
River Tees is the site of the Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station but this
and the neighbouring chemical industries of Seal Sands do not seem to
harm the sea-side resort atmosphere of the town. Seaton Carew is the
coastal resort for Stockton and Hartlepool and is named after a Norman
French family called Carou. Like many coastal places on the
neighbouring coast it was a small fishing town but grew in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with the rising popularity of
health resorts. Seaton was especially popular in the bathing season
with members of the Quaker fraternity from Darlington.

INDUSTRY AND WILDLIFE AT THE MOUTH OF THE TEES

Between Seaton carew and Redcar is Teesmouth, the Tees
traditionally being the boundary between Yorkshire and County Durham.
The Tees has one of Britain's most industrialised river estuaries with
a dramatic and seemingly endless landscape of chimneys and `space age'
towers. Compared to the mouth of the River Tees, the industries of the
River Tyne and Wear seem almost insignificant.

Most notable of the industrial plants at Teesmouth, are the
giant chemical complexes, the oil refineries, the steel works and a
power station at Seaton Carew, to the north of the river. Despite the
heavy industry, the area is surprisingly important for its wildlife and
the partly industrialised Seal Sands on the north bank of the Tees are
the Winter home to thousands of wildfowl and waders. Seals may also be
regularly seen `basking' in their man made surroundings. Seal sands are
only half their original size having been largely reclaimed for the
site of an oil refinery and chemical works.